We are still adrift at sea in our speculations what happened to the Caldwell nobility when Gilcrist Mure of Cowdon married the Caldwell heiress in the early 14th century, thereby acquiring most of what thereafter became known as the Mure of Caldwell Estate. This Estate remained in the ownership of the Mure lineage to the late 20th century, save for brief interruptions when the Estate was forfeited then restored to the Mures in the late 17th century. The last of the Mures residing at the Estate moved away about 1890. Today, Uplawmoor serves as the postal location. Caldwell has been adopted as the name of the local Parish of the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian).

The Mure Manor at Caldwell was consumed in fire a few years ago and only a roofless shell of the exterior walls remains. No longer does any Mure Manor exist, except in the minds of a few realtors extolling the virtues of this property.

A similar decline and fall has been recorded of the Mure Estate at nearby Cowden (formerly Cowdon) Hugh MacDonald, "Ramble Around Glasgow," ca. 1850's, contains this passage, which can be found online at http://www. geocities. com/ Heartland/ Meadows/5209/ ram181.htm#neil:

"In this parish of Neilston," says old Crawfurd, "lie the lands of Cowdon, which gave the first title of Lord to Sir William Cochran, afterwards Earl of Dundonald. An ancient family of the Spreuls did possess the forementioned lands for many years." From the Spreuls it passed into the possession of the Cochrans, from whom it was ultimately transferred to the Mures of Caldwell, who still retain it. With regard to the origin or history of the mansion, which has now mouldered away to a few crumbling vestiges, we now know almost nothing. The spot is still "beautiful exceedingly," however, with its rows of time-honoured trees..."A cadet of the noble family of Darnley," says the late Rev. Dr. Fleming, in describing his parish, "held Arthurlee; Glanderston was possessed by the ancient and highly respectable family of the Mures of Caldwell; Neilstonside was held by a descendant of Sir William Wallace's family of Elderslie; the barony of Side belonged to a cadet of the honourable house of Skelmorlie; Cowdonhall was long possessed by the distinguished family of the Spreuls, and by Sir William Cochran of Dundonald. Not one of all these has now a house in the parish, nor an acre of land in it, saving Lord Glasgow and Colonel Mure. All has changed hands.

"…The origin of the name of Neilston is a favourite subject of speculation, and has been accounted for in various ways by local etymologists. Certain parties derive it from an imaginary general of the Danish monarch Haco, named Neil, who, flying from the fatal field of Largs, was overtaken here and put to death. Over his grave a tumulus, according to the custom of the age, was erected, and called Neilston, from which, according to this theory, the locality ultimately received its name. Others find its origin in a stone erected over a supposed Highland chief, name Neil, who was killed (for the purpose, we suspect) at the battle of Harlaw, in the reign of Malcom III. Unfortunately for these specious derivations, an ancient document, the "Chartulary of Paisley Abbey," mentions that in 1160, many years before the Danish invasion or the insurrection which was terminated at Harlaw, Robert de Croc of Crocstown, assigns the patronage of "Neilstoun" to the monks of St. Mirren's, on condition that masses should be regularly said for the benefit of his soul. This leaves us still out at sea in our etymological speculations on this momentous question, where we must probably be content to remain, unless we adopt the shamefully simple solution that Neilston may have received its name from some individual 'rejoicing in the Celtic cognomen of Neil, who may have resided here at some period, and left his name as a legacy to the locality."

The East Renfrewshire Council states that the Parish Church in Neilston is first recorded in 1163 when it was mentioned in the foundation charter of Paisley Abbey. Though the present church isn’t nearly as ancient as that, incorporated in its back wall is a Gothic window and below that the burial vault of the Mures of Caldwell. http://www.eastrenfrewshire. gov.uk/area/ A_heritage_trail_12_22.asp? section_name=area_sub3_4_1

How ironical!

Neigboring Neilston originally served as the Mure medieval memorial, adding an aura of sacredness surrounding salvation of Mure's lineage, but it is the Caldwell clan chapel honored today as the Caldwell Church.

When Gilcrist Mure chose to preserve the Caldwell name, perhaps he did so in the belief that the Caldwell maternal line was of equal value, or at least a source and symbol of power, either by reason of blood relationship to an important person (for example, William Cauldwell, soon to be Prebendary of Glasgow and Lord High Chancellor of Scotland), or in expectancy that he would acquire a privileged position in a social hierarchy.

Caldwell could not have been a serf, to whom marriage would result in loss of Gilcrist's honor if not rank. She had to have been a woman of noble or illustrious birth. As was true for most medieval marriages, Gilcrist likely did not expect a long life together with his wife. Lineage, not marriage, was the fundamental social unit of his time.

The heiress of Caldwell conferred upon Gilcrist a dower--the estate. She would have become only half of the Mure clan, and at risk of acquiring only servitude, yet the Caldwell clan would have seen some advantage to accede to such a marriage.

Gilcrist would have acquired a social debt, if not military obligation, to the Caldwell clan. If Gilcrist died young, his clan would have obliged to support the Caldwell heiress and her minor children. The head of the Caldwell clan would have been able to exert some influence over its "son-in-law." The church would require the consent by the heiress and her close relatives to any alienation of the Estate, even if Gilcrist sought to donate all or portion of the Estate to a monastery or abbey. Children by such marriage would be expected to marry other Caldwells past the 3rd degree of cousins, as authorized in 1215 by the Lateral Council (reducing prohibited range from 7th to 4th degree). The fact that the adjacent Little Caldwell Estate remained in possession of the Caldwell clan suggests that there was a circle of sons and daughters, brothers, sisters, brothers in law, cousin, and nephews linked by constraints of coresidency, consanguinity, and community.

In view of the Church's insistence that marriage was indissolvable, except for prohibited degree of consanguinity or crime, the Church made it easy for Medieval nobles to obtain dissolution if the genealogical evidence showed such prohibited consanguinity. For a society dependent upon inherited wealth, indisuptable genealogy would have been of utmost importance in winning the battle to maintain a way of life. Use of the Caldwell crest would have aided in showing lnes of consanguinity.

Despite the plague, pillage and plunder, the violent 14th century did not witness the rise, decline and fall of the Scottish Caldwells. Two centuries later in the Casket Letters of Mary, Queen of Scots, reference is made to a "sonne of Caldwellis," who visited her during her imprisonment by Queen Elizabeth shortly before her execution in the late 16th century. The implication is that there was a Caldwell of great importance, likely of the nobility.

No currently published genealogical story refers to this Caldwell or his Estate. Instead, we only have access on line to the legends of the Calvinist Huguenots of Ireland, and their Appalachian descendants, who revere and retell a legend of heraldic identity, based upon a story of three knight brothers from the Rhone Valley, chalice in hand, who fled persecution in France and immigrated to Scotland a generation before St. Bartholmew's Massacre of 1572, and whose descendants joined Hugenots in Ulster Ireland, starting in early 1600's.

The time has come for us all to join in a search of the identity of this mysterious Caldwellis.

A detailed analysis of the Casket Letters, aka the Silver Casket Letters, can be found in a reproduction online of a 1911 encylcopeia (http://86. 1911encyclopedia. org/C/CA/ CASKET_LETTERS.htm) " This is the name generally given to eight letters, and a sequence of irregular sonnets, all described as originally in French, and said to have been addressed by Mary, queen of Scots, to the earl of Bothwell, between January and April 1566—1567." (Id.) The letters were reportedly found in Bothwell's chambers, but the lords could never produce the original copies. The letters revealed a love affair that began long before Lord Darnley's murder. In Antonio Fraser's biography, entitled "Mary, Queen of Scots," she appends a copy of the Casket letter that mentions Caldwellis.

The explanation might be found in any of the many biographies of Mary, Queen of Scots, or books delving into the Casket Letters themselves.

For an image confirming Mary's beauty, see http://members. aol.com/ skyelander/ mary.html